Chrome plating is just different chemicals.Silver plating, very good videos on youtube..

I love the bench-plater.. (I don't have room to copy) I always had open 5 gallon buckets I had to "set up each time" i used them.

Alkaline Drain cleaner (sodium hydroxide LYE) makes a good etchant. Some are sulphuric based and make the electrolyte.. (cheap and can purchase in the middle of the night at wal mart)

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I Hung a 24 foot Ibeam this morning in the ceiling by myself, programmed a Arduino this afternoon for a solar project, Helped a buddy out with a electrical motor connection issue on the phone, then cut up a chicken for Hotwings. I'd say it has been a "blessed day" for myself and all those around me.

My lack of room was why I designed the bench, it just replaces a bench I already had. It's nice to have in the middle of the shop to lay out projects and work off of.

Sodium hydroxide and sulphuric acid are indeed the easiest chemicals to get. Lye is a common ingredient in soap making and the acis is just battery acid from the local NAPA. The dyes, de-smutting solution and sealer are the only part you can't skimp on and those came from an anodizing supply.

I have room for a barber chair, it gives lovely naps while the cnc is running, not room for a bench.. I do have a roll around gang box.. but it is full of tools. That would be a excellent start.. a old gang box purchased at auction.. My gang box is also a great layout table.. too.

Liquid RIT clothing dye works.. It all does sun-fade thou..

You can shoot automotive clear coat over it, seal it, and it has UV protection in the clear. THE motorcycle parts I did got "chalky before I started going through this step.

HOW are you sealing? boiling in water, or got a sealer step??

I Learned, the anodic layer builds up like a group of "straws" standing on end, the dye sights is like fabric, you load the dye into the dye sights, then must close in the ends over the dye.

I did a tattoo coil winder, anodized it, the owner set it into his show window cause it was so pretty.. and the sunlight faded it to near stock aluminum color.. A set of blue-prints did the same thing on my service truck dashboard on a job in the 70s.. me being a newbie, thought someone was playing a trick, disappearing prints??

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I Hung a 24 foot Ibeam this morning in the ceiling by myself, programmed a Arduino this afternoon for a solar project, Helped a buddy out with a electrical motor connection issue on the phone, then cut up a chicken for Hotwings. I'd say it has been a "blessed day" for myself and all those around me.

The commercial dyes have a much smaller particle size than fabric dyes. That means more can fit in the pores of the anodizing, resulting in a more intense color. They also hold their color better in sunlight than fabric dyes.

Having a lot of trouble again with pro anodisers, inviciles., If want something doing right, do it yourself.

Pretty much gave up anodising in 2005, really hit and miss after a lot of trial and error. Lucky nowadays, it was hush hush even back in 2002 with about three sources of info, they all told porkies nothing worked.

Quite right on the dye, tried everything I could get my hands on eventually going to Midland Dykem in Leicester for the pro stuff using a fish tank heater/thermometer.Never tried the pharmaceutical dyes.

Just used a 4ft x deep 18" high fish tank and a small 12", back lined with lead. Could even do hard anodising in the winter!Because I have a lot less room than you Tom it was permanently setup other side of partition. Son must have knocked the tank early 2006 gallons of sulphuric 19% flowed out, rotted the doors in a few weeks even after hose pipe jobby.

Got the same black PSU when my twin output digi went down.

Main problem was electrical breakdown, wire wouldn't have it so used aluminium wedges filed up for each use. Ti never tried.

Going to have to give this another go again Tom the anodisers have done me over twice since last post. Yesterday 50 mile round trip 4 hrs lost/wasted to pick up 10 high value parts, got 7 back and was needed for a show today with implications from distributors.

Trouble is I have no room, its finding some where to put my coffee down.

We have the same problems with the "pro" anodizers around here. Dowel holes out of spec., lost parts, mismatched colors. I got a batch of parts back last month that were three shades of blue, had to mix and match to pair them up. You are right, the only way to get it done right is to do it yourself.

I would be glad to post some pics of the inside, but would rather not publish a schematic. I'm a machinist, not an E.E., and since there are lethal voltages inside, I'll provide a description of what I did, but leave the wiring up to you. Basically, the SSR's are in series with the resistance heaters in the tanks and are switched by 110V through the PID's. The selector switches are also on the "coil" side so I can select only the heaters I need to use for the dyes. The sealer tank has its own PID and because it's used all the time, there is no selector switch. There is also a 110V outlet on the back for the air pump and the power supply and the whole shebang is turned on with a switch on the front panel. There is a lot more detail in the original build thread over on Metalworking Fun. You can check it out here.

Anodizing is a plating like chrome with a different choice of color and texture. Powder coating is a less permanent solution as it can be remove like paint. Either way choose a good pro to perform the work. You can do you own powdercoat yourself with varying result.